Continuing in the chronology of Jesus' life, we started our day with a hike in the hill country where John the Baptist would have been from. We saw a house built into a stone cave, that would have been like the one Zechariah and Elizabeth would have lived in (John the Baptist's parents). A note on Jewish life: Dr. Wright says that the Jewish way of life was based on God, family, and land. 1 Kings 4:25 gives an image of life as it should be for the Jews: "During Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and fig tree." This house, in the hill country, surrounded by vineyards and green trees, would have represented the Jewish ideal. They valued safety, peace, security, productivity, self-sufficiency, and predictability. They would have lived on the same land for generations, and would consist of multiple generation families. This gives an idea of how important and connected the Jews are to the land. Zechariah was a Priest, so John would have been born to follow in his father's priestly line. However, he instead went to the wilderness and lived counter-culturally, prophesying the coming Messiah. Dr. Wright said since John spoke out against injustices of the day, he was probably addressing unjust temple practices. So not only would he have discontinued his family's priestly line, he was speaking out against it!
The Jewish ideal really made me think about what my own culture promotes and how this shapes my reading of scripture. "Life as it should be" is a way to define "shalom." What is shalom for us? Are these ideals really a part of us all? Is it ok if they're not?
After this hike we went back to the Herodion. Dr. Wright gave more of a talk on Herod the Great, who continues to be a fascinating character. He was never accepted by the Jews because he was brought in by Rome to rule over Judah, but wasn't Jewish. His entire reign he was threatened by people close to him betraying him as well as outside threats of the Partheans and Mesopotamia. All of his building projects looked Roman and brought in Roman luxury (food, entertainment, pools, etc.). At the end of his life paranoia caught up with him...which makes a lot of sense if he was constantly fleeing for his life, fighting off enemies, and not even loved by his people. This results in even killing his own sons! Then he prepares an elaborate tomb for himself at the Herodion, as a huge monument to himself. He even takes the top off of the mountain next to the Herodion and puts it on the Herodion, so that nothing diminishes its grandeur and power. In addition, he creates these massive water systems in order to get water out to the desert...so having pools, cisterns, and baths was no easy task! In order to make sure everyone genuinely grieves his death, he has all of the favorite leaders in Judah arrested and killed. So...he is a powerful, paranoid, and extremely narcissistic leader.
So this leads us to Bethlehem, our next stop of the day. At the time of Jesus' birth Herod was the leader. So we can see that when Herod got word that the Messiah was being born he would have a major problem with that (threat to his power and ego). Dr. Wright pointed out that the word a lot of our Bibles translate as "inn" is actually "guest room" (my good ol' TNIV did the correct translation!) Based on Mid Eastern culture, he said there is no way Mary and Joseph would have returned to Bethlehem, their ancestral land, without staying with relatives. Therefore, when they got there the guest room was full...probably with other family members. So Mary and Joseph stayed in the stable, which means it was summertime when the sheep and goats were out to pasture in the warm night air. At another site I saw a manger, which is made out of stone. This interpretation makes a lot more sense culturally, and kind of rearranges what we were taught in Sunday school!
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